Finalised 'Pre-Surgery' Card

The card is the same size as a standard credit card. Overall the best design was with less text, keeping it simple and easy to use practically.

 

Designing Card II

Some practice designs for the card:

Designing 'Keep Calm' Card I

Requirements for a pre-surgery keep calm card:

• Small - ideally to fit inside a wallet/purse to easily access whilst in the waiting room before surgery. 
• No images of eyes/surgery. Could increase anxiety. 
• Include what to think about during surgery - After asking 2 of the viewers who completed the survey, and reading a few online forums, it had become apparent most people fear the process of the surgery. Unlike many operations, you remain conscious and the bright lights, loud noises, and large machines can increase stress levels.
• A colour scheme which promotes a calm atmosphere. (Similar to that in my film. i.e warm pale colours. Light orange/pink/pale purple...)

I will use a credit card for a size template.
I will use pale pink as it is easy to look at, is a positive colour, different colour to credit cards - so easily found in wallet, and a different colour scheme to the safety leaflet - keeping them seperate items.

Finalised Leaflet

Here is my final design prototype of the leaflet which will accompany my video. This was made as viewers agreed an improvement of my video would be to include potential health risks.

• A cool colour scheme of blue's and green's has been selected. There is some orange text to aid the reader through the dense text. 
• Although the leaflet is text heavy, I felt it was more important to produce a small compact leaflet, so it can be easily picked up and read. A diagram in the middle of the leaflet is used to break up some of the text. 
• The back page is now correct. 
• I have only included one quote to ensure no bias and I have not included any patients opinions as my goal is to educate people further on laser eye surgery - not to make (or alter) their decisions. 

Front view: 

After opening 1 page:

All inside pages:

The back view (when opened out): 

Designing leaflet III

Based on my aesthetic requirements, I have designed a demo leaflet to test out different styles.

Here I have experimented with different size papers, different folds, and different colours.

Possible size papers: A6 A5 A4 A3

 A3 is too large for any leaflet. A4 (Below) is hard to hold in only 1 hand. Too large to fill with side effects. Very daunting for the audience.

 A5 is easier to hold in 1 hand, but large enough include clear text.

 Different methods of folding for the A5 leaflet.

 

 I have chosen to fold it into thirds vertically (see last pic^).
 



Below is my rough plan of my leaflet with the a selected structure. I test the colour scheme as well as how I can arrange the text and diagrams.

 
  





This should be the back page. Error in designing. I will not make this mistake for the real design.

Colour tests: 

I tested 'warm', 'cool' and 'brown' colour schemes. 

• The warm colours are similar to my video colour scheme. Although this would link them, I think it is important to differentiate between learning the science behind eye surgery and understanding the health risks. 
• The cool colours look as if they will work well and keep a calm tone to the leaflet. 
• The browns/greens are slightly dull. Not eye capturing.

Designing leaflet II

Aesthetics

Potential requirements:

1. The leaflet must have text size large enough to be read by someone with impaired vision. 
2. Must be easily transported, so can be handed out at GP surgeries/eye clinics/hospitals whilst viewing the film. 
3. Should not be daunting or scare the patient. Simultaneously it cannot provide false information. Should not be bias. 
4. Should capture the audience's attention to ensure they are focused when absorbing the information. 

How this will be achieved:

1. I will not go into too much detail. Therefore less text will need to be on the leaflet meaning the font can be larger. 
2. It will fold up into a smaller size. 
3. Although a large leaflet would be I can achieve requirement 1, it may be daunting for someone to pick up a very big leaflet on all the side effects. Therefore leaflet must be kept small. As it will be foldable, this will help to some degree. I will ensure it can be read and held in one hand. To rule out any bias from information I have gathered, I will cross reference my sources. I will not avoid negative examples or give fake data, however certain side effects which vary extremely from case to case do not need to be presented. 
4. Leaflet should include colour, perhaps a diagram, varied size font. I will choose reassuring colours e.g. pale colours, not too bright. 

Reviewing other health leaflets:

Photos help spread out the text. Photos would not be appropriate for my leaflet, as it would appear too graphic. Many viewers said the surgery 'scares them', this would not work well together.

Tri fold. Again many photos. White background with a small amount of colour is effective. 

Z or Tri fold leaflet. Split into 3 main sections. There are many opinions and quotes. I cannot include opinions and quotes on my leaflet as it is purely for highlighting the risks. 

The photo of laser eye would not help the leaflet in anyway.

Different ways to fold the leaflet. Most leaflets i've come across have been tri, Z or roll fold. This makes them very compact, easily transportable and easily folded and re-folded. 

Designing Leaflet

On top of learning the basic safety of laser eye during my work experience, I have already done some research into the health risks during my investigation of 'Laser Eye in the Media'.

"Complications occur in less than 5% of cases. Most people are back at work within a few days to a week."- NHS health website.

After cross referencing the sources presented earlier in the blog, I have produced a table of side effects, their symptoms, and any possible treatments.

	Symptoms	Treatment
Dry eyes (most common, not serious).	Feelings of dryness, grittiness or soreness that get worse throughout the day, red eyes, eyelids that stick together when you wake up, temporarily blurred vision.	Artificial tears (drops), anti-inflammatories, in rare cases surgery for drainage prevention.
Glare (more likely if short-sightedness was corrected)	Glare/halo affect when driving at night, around bright lights. Maybe have double vision.	No quick treatment.
Under corrections	Will not achieve intended clear results. Vision still blurred.	Further laser eye is required to remove more tissu
Over corrections	Vision of worse quality than before surgery.	Complex course of medication can help, but very hard to treat.
Astigmatism	Uneven tissue removal causes blurred vision, headaches, eye strain.	Addition survey, glasses or contact lenses.
Flap problems	Removing flap for period of time can cause infections, excess tears and inflammation.	Antibiotics, eye drops, anti-inflammatories.

This will make it easier to design my leaflet as I know roughly how much text I should include. 

Conditions that increase risks: 

• Autoimmune disorders, such as rheumatoid arthritis
• Immunodeficiency conditions caused by immunosuppressive medications or HIV
• Persistent dry eyes
• Unstable vision due to medications, hormonal changes, pregnancy, breast-feeding or age
• Several eye conditions, such as keratoconus, keratitis, uveitis, herpes simplex affecting the eye area, glaucoma, cataracts, eye injuries or lid disorders

LASIK may not be advisable if you:

• Have fairly good overall vision
• Have very large pupils or thin corneas
• Have a job that may be affected if you have the procedure
• Have age-related eye changes that cause you to have less clear vision (presbyopia)

Analysing Results of Survey

I have now collected the results of my survey. Here is a breakdown of all the statistics:

                                          

Question answers to: 

Is there any information you feel could be added in the video? If yes, please state. Are there any improvements to the video you can suggest?

1. There is nothing about the health risks of surgery. I would like to know more about them, and why they are risk factors.
2. What are the risks?
3. The possible side effects and consequences of laser eye surgery.
4. The graphics would be better to give a more realistic view.
5. More detail why corneas might be thinner.
6. Better music.
7. What are the side effects?
8. More time to digest information would be good.
9. How long does the surgery process take?

It can be seen there is a high prevalence in requests of addition information linked with side effects/safety hazards of the surgery. It appears the video alone, leaves the viewer slightly inconclusive as they feel they are missing information on a crucial factor to make a decision on laser eye.

It can be seen in my evaluation of 'Laser Eye in the Media' I chose not to include the risks of surgery as there was a lot online to inform the public. However ideally this video is appropriate to play with or without an internet source.
In response to the survey answers, I am going to design a leaflet containing the possible health risks and side effects of the surgery. It could be given out to a viewer after they have watched the video. It will be a small standard size leaflet meaning it is compact and it won't look too daunting.

Over 63% of people said the concept of eye surgery scared them. I will create a 'keeping calm before surgery' card, which the patient can fit in their wallet/purse and can look over before undergoing laser eye.

Survey link

Link to survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RQPPGC3

I can now begin to collect data.

Designing response surey

To see the aspects of what went well in my film, as well as what I could improve, I am designing a survey which can be completed online. The viewer will find a link to the survey after watching the film.

Check list for designing a survey:

1. Define objectives - what do I want to find out? What decisions am I trying to make?
2. Work backwards - Once objectives are set, determine the data needed to make decision.
3.Check for bias - Ensure there are no leading questions.
4. Test run - with small sample size. Check clarity and logic.
5. Collect results and analyse data - make sure it has been sent to correct target audience.

1. My objectives: Main - Have I answered my question? Does the viewer have a better understanding of laser eye surgery after watching the film?
Others - Are there any unanswered questions still? Any addition info they wish they had?

2. Data needed: I would like to have a large age range of target audience therefore need to know age and sex of viewer. Need to know at what stage have they considered laser eye. How much they knew about laser eye before vs. how much they know after. Additional info such as ways to improve.

3. All multiple choice questions will have an array of different choice of answers.

4. I will send a test survey to close family and friends as a prelim. It will be a quick way to check everything is smooth.

5. To send my survey to...
<18's - I will send the link via social media sites, such as Facebook and twitter.
For 18-50 year olds - I will also use Twitter, as well as emailing the link to many people.
For 50+ year olds - I will either email or ask people who are at Moorfields eye hospital to complete it directly after watching the film then and there.

To obtain a large sample size, I will go beyond just showing the film and survey to people with an interest in having eye surgery. A large sample size ensures the mean is reliable as extreme values and answered do not have as big an effect.

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Final Film

This is my finalised film. Each clip plays for half the time than it did before so overall it looks smoother. I have kept the same style music.

Soundtrack tests

Using the up to date visuals of my film, I have tested out different sound tracks. None of the backings contain lyrics as this would clash with the audio teaching the viewer about the surgery process.

1. The first sample 'Ukelele' is upbeat so brings a positive tone to the surgery process. However it resembles a dance, which match hand in hand with learning the science. 
2. The next, called 'Speedy', is much faster. It may rush the viewers thoughts, meaning they absorb less information. The speed makes it slightly frantic. It also resembles a childlike style, which although brings light energy to the video, is not appropriate for a topic of surgery or the high level of science detail being conveyed. 
3. This acoustic version of 'Budapest' (original by George Ezra) is calming and a good speed. However at times it becomes too heavy and dense for a backing track. There is also a chance viewers will recognise the song, which will draw their attention away from the aim of understanding more. 
4. The 4th sample is again an acoustic version of a well known song 'Riptide'. For the same reasons above, I have chosen not to use it. 
5. This is the slowest sample. It is far too slow for the speed of the visuals, so do not work together in 1 film. 
6. The 6th test is very positive. If anything it is too dramatic. I must be sure to remain un-bias on my thoughts of laser eye. This style music seems as if I am promoting laser eye surgery to the audience. 
7. The next track is called 'Flowing energy'. It is a good speed and provides good energy to the film. 
8. The final sound sample 'Sun on my Side' is similar to no.7. However it is slightly more upbeat. Includes more string instruments and makes the film look overall more smooth. 

After evaluating all my possible sound tracks, I have made a decision to use 'Sun on my Side'. I will use 3 different versions of this track throughout my film. The different versions are very similar so will fit together easily. 

Film - sep 24th version

This is the stage of my movie mid-september. I have put together the 100s of photos and fit the audio to the correct timings. I would like to speed up the film, making it overall smoother, however I have yet figured out how to do this without distorting the sounds. 

The background music is also only temporary as I am still experimenting. 

Background colour and lighting tests

Here are a few different background colour tests. I concluded that pink was the most fitting colour as firstly it gives a warm image and is easy to look at for the audience. Secondly it gives a good contrast to the other coloured objects in the frame. And finally pink also shares connotations with the inside of a human body (suggesting surgery).

[I have chosen to use the Sony DSC-WX150 camera as overall its positives out-ruled all the negatives in comparison to the other 2 cameras].

Deciding a camera

The choice of which camera I will use for my stop-frame animation will depend on a few factors:
1. Which editing software I will use.
2. Quality of images.
3. Size if image on camera (effects processing time).

I have tested out a few different cameras and methods.

iphone 4
A very easy-to-use app on the iPhone called 'stop motion' is one method I am considering to make my film with. The app is on a set timer which takes photos in a given interval then immediately stitches your photos together to make a quick photo-animation.

Positives: Will make editing faster & easier. Photos are small (low MBs) therefore easy to download, store, load onto computer. I have a small tripod for iPhones, so setting up the set should not take a long time. Can send film straight to computer.

Negatives: The film is created immediately - I don't yet know a way of editing after photo's are stitched together. The quality of the images are not very high and as I will be working with close ups, this could affect the film quality. The iPhone and tripod are physically small, so hard to handle (fiddly). The iPhone loses charge very quickly.

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX150
A sony digital camera which pro-effects. 18.2 MP and 10x optical zoom. Has a macro-lens setting. Will take photos separately and then stitch together in iMoive on my MacBook.

Positives: The photos will be of much higher quality than the iPhone. No set time interval, so do not have to rush each frame. Free to edit photos in any way. The tripod I have for this camera is larger, therefore greater variety in options of angles/distance. Lighting and colour is good.

Negatives: Size of the photos will be larger- more memory will be used - will need a large memory card. Cannot sent all photos to computer at one time (will have to take time uploading them). Processing time on camera is longer as photos are larger (due to higher quality).

Sony Cyber-shot HX50V
Later generation of Sony DSC-WX150. 20.4MP and 30x optical zoom. It is also a small digital camera but larger than the Sony DSC-WX150. Has mostly the same affects as the Sony DSC-WX150. Would also use iMovie to edit separate photos together.

Positives: Images would be the highest quality out of all of the options. No set time interval, so do not have to rush each frame. Free to edit photos in any way. Can also use the larger tripod for this camera. Most photo-sensitive lens therefore responds the best to light changes.

Negatives: As photo quality is higher, it takes longer to process when capturing each frame. This could affect the fluidity of my animation making as well as delaying the project overall. The battery life on this camera is lower than Sony DSC-WX150
After testing the camera on the tripod I have discovered it is prone to falling over due to it's heavy weight. It is very important the camera (and set) remains in exactly the same place throughout the course of taking the photos so there is overall clarity within the film.

Finalised storyboard

This is the corrected version of my storyboard (only a few alterations). 

I made sure to design my original storyboard built upon ideas that I was confident I can achieve practically. Therefore I haven't needed to change much of it. 

Animation Test

This is my first test of video using plasticine. I did this to test out different angles for the camera, to get the feel of how I will manipulate my materials whilst also testing a small clip of music.

Overall I think the test was successful as I found the plasticine easy to work with. I was also able to conclude at the end of the test footage that for my final animation, the angle of the camera should be directly above (birds eye view), this way it will be easier to keep consistency as well as easier for the viewer to watch.

Schedule (2nd version)

I have deviated from my original timeline as I havn't been able to obtain original plans of recordings. As a result, there has been a change to my schedule: (see changes in orange). 

Voice Tests

Alex Ionidies (Eye surgeon) has not been able to send me a voice recording of the script I prepared (with his guidance) as it has proved tricky to send from another country. To stay up to speed with my schedule I need to start working with an audio very soon. Therefore I have decided to use an alternative voice over. Perhaps I will compose a version with Alex's voice at a later date.

Storyboard Draft 1

Here is my first storyboard according to the script (work still in progress)

The script

I have now designed a script which should last no longer that 2 minutes.

Originally it opened immediately with the 2 eye surgery options, however on speculation I realised an important factor in explaining anything is ensuring your audience is comfortable with the terminology...
So now the script opens with a description of the eye:

"Lets begin with a quick tour of the human eye.

Right in the middle, is the visual gel containing many optic nerves

Surrounding that is the retina, choroid and the sclera.

The lense sits towards the front of the eye, behind the iris, in line with the hole know as the pupil.

Finally the transparent layer forming the front of your eye is the cornea.

There are 2 different laser eye operation methods.

The most common choice is LASIK. 

Using a tiny sharp knife, a flap of tissue is created from the surface of the cornea. 

The flap is lifted and the underlying cornea is lasered before replacing it.

On the other hand, if you’re cornea is naturally thinner, you may choose LASEK surgery. 

The surface layer of cells on the front of the cornea are treated with alcohol and pushed aside. 

The underlying cornea is then lasered to reshape it, similar to a potter reshaping clay. 

The epithelium must then grow back and the vision settles down making the patient vision perfect!"